Many attempts have been made earlier to improve the handles of tennis rackets and like implements, although the majority of these endeavours have been directed towards producing handles that are custom-built to suit the individual.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,696,842, 4,765,856 and 4,785,495 relate to handles for tennis rackets and tools which include ridges and intermediate finger grooves.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,110 describes a similar tubular handle which is intended to be fitted to a racket shaft and which has two thumb grooves or recesses which enable the grip on the handle to be changed precisely and simply when switching between forehand and backhand strokes.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,348, a similar handle is angled at about 32.degree. to the remainder of the shaft so as to provide a pistol grip fitting, and the handle may also be angled at 5.degree. to the blade. The grip is intended to be customer-made from an uncured, soft epoxy resin and is gripped by the individual concerned until the resin has hardened.
DOS 2,746,168 and 3,616,414 describe similar handles and different methods of imparting individuality to the handles by a tennis player gripping around soft, uncured resin with his/her playing hand so as to mould the plastic to the individual grip of the person concerned. The resin is then hardened.
GB-A 2,133,294 relates to a handle which is formed anatomically by two half tubes which are fixed to the shaft.
GB-A 2,169,839 relates to a cricket bat handle provided with finger grooves.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,396,424 relates to similar handles for squash rackets.